I don’t believe you have to have a metal that states that you’ve completed X amount of years of experience in your niche, No that’s not authority to me.

Authority can be as simply as using your life experiences and applying it so that you can share lessons that you’ve learned with others to prevent help them to not have to go through negative experiences.

Great post, thanks for sharing.

Mr Rowse is NOT pretty. He may be handsome. He may be attractive (I don’t know, don’t swing that way).

But he is not pretty.

I, however, am pretty.

But I’d rather be an authority.

At least, an authority on something other than being pretty.

Sorry to hear your “…inner feminist, idealist and fist-shaker just died a little…”. I think a good thing to add to your action plan is “Content, Content, Content”. Quality content is crucial to being successful at the rest of the action plan.

P.S. You’re an authority in my eyes (whatever that means, and for whatever that’s worth…lol)

Authority means to me – that person who can help me.

There might be a person in a position of authority but if they can’t help me in my life goals how can I respect them or their authority? Skewed definition definitely, but one that essentially defines bosses as anti-authority from one who is struggling to find her niche. The backlinks make total sense too!

I’m so grateful someone finally said this because it has been an irksome term and I’ve chosen to my detriment to ignore it for the the reasons that you listed.

I can also relate to banklinks and to writing about things that keep people coming back and playing nice. I confess my blog needs for me to up the ante. I didn’t start my blog out to be anything other than an extension of what I do, but to really get something out of it, I have to really put a lot into it and I don’t always do that or I’ve shifted some of what I do and how I do it and have probably confused those I was building up my “authority” with originally.

All that said, the web is changing too just like everything else even for the ones who do currently own the real estate of “new media” and authority. The other shoe has yet to drop.

But, I will certainly use backlinks. This I can do…..

Not my type of writing…

I love what Lianne Raymond wrote, “The etymology of authority goes back to the word “autor” -from the Old French for “father”. So there are the patriarchial roots….”.

In some cases, when there is factual knowledge to find, an authority might be helpful. In other times, when we’re looking for how to be in the world, what choices to make, etc., the only authority that can really help is the one inside.

I do think women and men process the word differently. It might make sense we do so, if the word itself stems from ‘Father’. I know many women who eschew the word, simply because authority has been so abused over the centuries, and most often the victims of this abuse have been women and children.

And maybe, just maybe, women and men have naturally different perspective on what the word means, simple because we are different.

“Woman, through her descent, touches a deeply feminine authority, as different from the authority of the masculine, as is the moon from the sun. ~Judith Duerk”

I do know, that i LOVE the fact you’ve questioned the status quo…any status quo can keep us locked in rigidity rather than facilitating flow, something the blogsphere inherently provides for.

I’d like to propose a third authority. Authority in knowing that you don’t have authority. A-la me :)

Kelly you’re a breath of fresh air. Thanks for making this serious topic fun.